New Study Proves Range Resources Polluted Water for 20 Counties
A geologist who has spent years studying the effects of natural gas drilling on water sources said last week that he has “no doubt” that Range Resources gas drilling activity has contaminated the Trinity Aquifer, ruining several water wells in Parker County — but not due to leaks from the gas wells themselves.
Retired professor Geoffrey Thyne, who has worked as a consultant for gas drillers, gas drilling critics, and the Environmental Protection Agency, told Fort Worth Weekly he is convinced that natural gas, disturbed by the hydraulic fracturing process, is migrating through a natural fault into the aquifer. The Trinity aquifer serves as a primary water source for 20 counties, from the Oklahoma border south to Bandera.
Thyne is principal geochemist at Wyoming’s Science Based Solutions LLC, which investigates environmental impacts of industrial development on watersheds.
Since 2010, he said, the number of water wells affected — in some cases to the point that the water is so saturated with methane that it can be set on fire — has gone from one to five, and the five make a line that parallels a geologic fault in the area.
“Initially I was hopeful that this was stray gas that would dissipate in time,” Thyne said. Instead, the area of methane pollution of the aquifer “is getting bigger. It’s spreading geometrically. And it’s not the fault of a bad well,” he said. “The wells are very well done. This is coming from the rock that has been fracked, and it may be the first time we are actually seeing that.” The Barnett Shale strata lie several thousand feet below the level of the aquifer.
Not only has the number of affected wells grown, but the methane levels have risen, and the methane has a chemical signature that ties it back to the Range Resources fracking operation, he said.
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New Study Proves Range Resources Polluted Water for 20 Counties
A geologist who has spent years studying the effects of natural gas drilling on water sources said last week that he has “no doubt” that Range Resources gas drilling activity has contaminated the Trinity Aquifer, ruining several water wells in Parker County — but not due to leaks from the gas wells themselves.
Retired professor Geoffrey Thyne, who has worked as a consultant for gas drillers, gas drilling critics, and the Environmental Protection Agency, told Fort Worth Weekly he is convinced that natural gas, disturbed by the hydraulic fracturing process, is migrating through a natural fault into the aquifer. The Trinity aquifer serves as a primary water source for 20 counties, from the Oklahoma border south to Bandera.
Thyne is principal geochemist at Wyoming’s Science Based Solutions LLC, which investigates environmental impacts of industrial development on watersheds.
Since 2010, he said, the number of water wells affected — in some cases to the point that the water is so saturated with methane that it can be set on fire — has gone from one to five, and the five make a line that parallels a geologic fault in the area.
“Initially I was hopeful that this was stray gas that would dissipate in time,” Thyne said. Instead, the area of methane pollution of the aquifer “is getting bigger. It’s spreading geometrically. And it’s not the fault of a bad well,” he said. “The wells are very well done. This is coming from the rock that has been fracked, and it may be the first time we are actually seeing that.” The Barnett Shale strata lie several thousand feet below the level of the aquifer.
Not only has the number of affected wells grown, but the methane levels have risen, and the methane has a chemical signature that ties it back to the Range Resources fracking operation, he said.
Click here for whole article.
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